THE Caribbean Press, the publishing arm of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, last evening launched the final set of books in the Guyana Classics series, as well as several other books by Guyanese authors.

In delivering the feature address at the Umana Yana in Kingston Georgetown, Guyanese writer and critic Dr. David Dabydeen ,who heads the Caribbean Press, said he is very happy about the current debate that is taking place in Guyana on matters relating to the publishing of books.
“We normally cuss each other up over bread and butter issues, but now there is a real serious debate about publishing; imagine people are fighting about books. The battle of the books, it’s wonderful,” he remarked.

Dabydeen said he is delighted that there is now much debate in Guyana on this subject and that he is very grateful to everybody who has been a part of this discourse.
In explaining the work of the press, he related that Phase One of its work had to do with writings of academics and scholars who wrote introductions for the Guyana Classics series. He explained that this series is a combination of books related to the history and culture of Guyana and that each book has a new, scholarly introduction by academic writers.
According to Dabydeen, this phase is finished and the focus is now on parliamentary speeches by presidents. Thus far, there have been 23 volumes, he said.
He added that the press will also be focusing on writing by children and people whose voices are rarely heard, as well as work by people from other Caribbean countries. As such, he said the press has to constantly evolve and change its governing structure as it progresses.
Meanwhile, Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports, Dr. Frank Anthony, explained that while the idea of the Caribbean Press was born in 2008 when Guyana hosted Carifesta, its work really started in 2010. According to him, from that time to now, Dr. Dabydeen and his team have done a tremendous amount of work.
He noted that within a short period of time, the press has been able to publish some 65 books, 38 of which belong to the Guyana Classics series.
“It represents a wide set of books of our history, our literature and it a very important collection, and with these books I think a lot of people are rediscovering about Guyana, and our history,” he said.
Dr Anthony also related that the Caribbean Press has so far published the speeches of the late Dr. Cheddi Jagan, two volumes of speeches of Forbes Burnham and two volumes of speeches by Janet Jagan.
He further pointed out that the press has published another 15 books by Guyanese writers and that there are some 40 books in the pipeline to be published in the next few years.
He stated that Dr Dabydeen and his team has been doing work for the press on a voluntary basis, but said he believes it has come to a point where, because of the rapid growth of the press, they may have to start employing some people on a full-time basis.
Minister Anthony related that during the last budget debates on the matter of funding for the Caribbean Press, a lot of questions were raised and the government was able to provide answers to all of those questions.
He stated that they were able to get support from the Alliance For Change (AFC) in the National Assembly and, as such, the press now has the funds to expand its publishing agenda.
“If we cooperate, we can do much more as a country and I think sometimes we have to put aside the politics and think about our country,” Minister Anthony stated.

*** Among the books launched last night are as follows:

The Wild Coast – Jan Carew
Other Leopards – Dennis Williams
Heartland – Wilson Harris
Corentyne Thunder – Edgar Mittelholzer
Black Midas – Jan Carew
The Third Temptation – Dennis Williams
Life & Death of Sylvia – Edgar Mittelholzer
Shadows Move Among Them – Edgar Mittelholzer
A Morning at the Office – Edgar Mittelholzer
The Eye of the Scarecrow – Wilson Harris
The Mysterious Association and the Virtu-Gems – Ashley V. Anthony
Rasta Lyrics – Cedric Castello
The Dumb and the Brave – Churaumanie Bissundyal
National Assembly Speeches Vol 1 & 2 – Janet Jagan
National Assembly Speeches Vol 1 – Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham
An Arawak-English Dictionary with an English word-list – John Peter Bennett
Scholar’s Dictionary and Grammar of the Wapishana Language – Wapishana Language Project
The Lure of the Mermaid and other Children’s Stories from Guyana – Janet Jagan
One Hundred Folk Songs of Guyana – Lynette Dolphin
Cloud of Witnesses – Ian McDonald

During the launching ceremony, readings of excerpts from Rasta Lyrics by Cedric Castello and The Mysterious Association and the Virtu-Gems by Ashley Anthony were done by the respective authors.
Copies of the books in the Guyana Classics series were presented to the National Library, the University of Guyana (UG) library, the National Archives and the libraries of Queens College, the Bishops’ High School and Saint Stanislaus College. A limited number of copies are also for sale at Austin’s Book Store in Georgetown.